Our minimum guidelines are on the website here: http://miteyheroes.co.uk/aliens/costume.html

That Pemberley site is a must-see. This page basically tells you EVERYTHING about fashion for ladies: http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/ppbrokil.html

And the same, for men: http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/rgnclfil.html

Wikipedia isn't bad for basics, on men and women: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1795-1820_in_fashion and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1820s_in_fashion

Finally, this page tells you everything you'd need to know about cravat styles. Fascinating! http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~awoodley/regency/tie.html

Remember that this event is early 1821. The Victorian-style fashions (especially corsets & petticoats) haven't yet arrived. The most fashionable ladies have started experimenting with lower waistlines, but they're still quite high and that's it.

Anyway. Here are my basic costume notes. Just to use as a spring-board.

LADIES

Ladies clothes at this time were remarkably unrestrictive. Ankle-length, with no bustles, no crinolines or heavy full skirts, no hoped skirts, no external corsets. Instead dresses were relatively loose and flowing.
Corsets/stays could worn under the dress, but weren't as severe as later Victorian designs. And they shouldn't be visible in any way.
Waistlines were high, short bodied. Slightly lower waistlines are the cutting edge of fashion, and are seen as a bit silly and very modern. But still, waistlines aren't really anywhere near the waist!

So, what does this mean for us? Basically, that Ladies should wear simple long dresses (or, at a push, skirts). Ideally this dress would be pale. In the perfect world, no dresses would be strappy or shoulderless. Shawls aren't a bad way to conceal shoulders if a perfect dress can’t be found.
Dresses should have high waistlines. Luckily, high-waisted dresses seem to be quite widely available at the moment (although they're normally strappy or shoulderless, they'd work well with a shawl or some sort of jacket.)
Jackets and coats are useful for outdoor wear. These can be more tailored. Also, as the event may well be chilly if/when you go outside, we won't kick up a fuss if outside wear isn't as historical. Hyperthermia is bad. The comfort of you guys matters more than being historically accurate!
But please, no external corsets or no huge petticoats. Fashion was based on Classical images, not the Gothic designs of the Victorian era.
Oh, and trousers are just right out!

GENTLEMEN

The most fashion-savvy gentlemen wore waistcoats (waist-length & flat-bottomed), tail coats, cravats (or stocks or similar neck-coverings) and either white linen breeches with high white socks/stockings or trousers. Top hats would be worn outdoors, but gentlemen don't wear hats indoors. Less snappy styles were black trousers and less well-tailored coats.

So, how do we get close to this? For a start, all gentlemen should wear white long-sleeved shirts and waistcoats. Any plain white shirt with a collar will do- wing collars are best, but dress shirts, normal £3 Primark ones or LARP shirts will all do. Flat-bottomed waistcoats are best, pointy-bottomed waistcoats are fine, and earlier-style long ones will do (although long ones are seen as very old fashioned).

Some sort of smart dark coloured coat is also needed- ideally what we now regard as a white tie tailcoat, but long black morning dress coats or black frock coats are fairly close. In a pinch, if you can't get anything else, formal black tie jackets, dark coloured overcoats or black suit jackets will have to do.
Modern-style ties or bowties aren't right, but neither is a bare neck. Ideally formal white cravats would be worn, but anything that looks vaguely right will be accepted (i.e. just get some white cloth and wrap it round your neck).
Trousers should be white, grey or black. Knee-length/just-below-knee-length breeches with high socks are even better, if you can find them. Shoes or boots are black leather, generally.

You can be pretty much perfect by wearing modern formal morning dress or white tie (available for hire from Moss Bros, etc).

OFFICERS

Historically, different regiments wore different coloured jackets and these varied quite a lot. We've modified this. All officers (from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales) should wear a military cut jacket in the appropriate colour- Dark Blue for the Navy, Bright Red for the Army, and Bottle Green for the Aerial Corps. White, black and gold are all popular colours for details and facings. Foreigners wear a variety of different colours.

Jackets can be waist-length or longer, and can be open or closed.

Male officers also wear bits from standard gentlemen's attire: white long-sleeved shirts, some sort of cravat, and trousers/breeches (in black/grey/white). Waistcoats are recommended if your military jacket is in an open style. Waistcoat colours are entirely up to the wearer. Gold is always popular, but so are ones in colours that match or contrast with the jacket.

Ladies from the Aerial Corps have difficult fashion decisions to make. Do they wear normal female attire? Or some sort of officer's attire? It's a minefield, and as female officers have only been public knowledge for just over a decade they're still working out their stance on fashion. In general at public occassions lady officers wear female attire (floor-length dresses or blouse and skirt) paired with a green military-style jacket. Or floor-length green dresses with military style details. Only in informal circumstances (when riding dragons, for example) do female officiers wear trousers, and non-Corps society still regards trousers on lady officers as utterly shocking (so really really inappropriate for our event). There are rumours they wear trousers under their dresses...

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Masquerades & Massacres, "Jane Austen's Aliens"
A Tale of Romance, Politics, Magic, and Horrific Beasts.

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LT -Captain Iolanthe Swan

Riftworld - S.J MacRae

Brighton Below - Drizzle

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LT -Captain Iolanthe Swan

Riftworld - S.J MacRae

Brighton Below - Drizzle

http://www.livinghistoryfairs.com/

http://www.reenactorsmarket.co.uk/

Ian

Ian
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M&M: Commodore Matthew Fallow RN
Riftworld: Defender Maccharius
ex Lt Jason "Jigs" Gee

The HCC (http://www.thehcc.co.uk/) goes to the LHF (27th Feb-1st March). The HCC are brilliant for really really fancy military kit (as discussed in this thread about Napoleonic costume: http://forums.rule7.co.uk/Topic41082-32-1.aspx).

TORM is the 13th-15th March.

Personally, I prefer TORM. But I go to both of them anyway...

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Masquerades & Massacres, "Jane Austen's Aliens"
A Tale of Romance, Politics, Magic, and Horrific Beasts.

For events in the past I've either gone with my mediaeval style bucket boots or walking boots.

I'm not sure what to do for Regency - at least what to do without breaking the bank. Anybody have any good ideas?

Ian

Ian
---
M&M: Commodore Matthew Fallow RN
Riftworld: Defender Maccharius
ex Lt Jason "Jigs" Gee

For our purposes, black laced shoes, black laced army boots, black pirate boots or just about anything as long as it's black is good. If you don't own any black shoes, I'm sure you can find something in Shoe Zone or wherever for almost nothing.

Women? Whatever you want. Extremely high heels aren't really historical, flats were much more popular- http://www.songsmyth.com/shoes.html has some pretty pictures. But if you really want to wear heels, go for it.

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Masquerades & Massacres, "Jane Austen's Aliens"
A Tale of Romance, Politics, Magic, and Horrific Beasts.